Sharp, succinct storytelling and breathtaking prose combine in a new novel, Trick, by Domenico Starnone, author of the New York Times editor’s pick, Ties. His work is beautifully rendered in English by Jhumpa Lahiri, who will read from Trick and discuss both the novel and the art of translation with her colleague and fellow-translator, Alessandro Giammei.

Imagine a duel between an elderly man and a mere boy. The same blood runs through their veins. One, Daniele Mallarico, is a successful illustrator whose reputation is slowly fading. The other, Mario, is his four-year-old grandson. The older combatant has lived for years in solitude, focusing obsessively on his work. The younger one has been left by his querulous parents with his grandfather for a 72-hour stay. Shut inside an apartment in Naples that is filled with the ghosts of Mallarico’s own childhood, grandfather and grandson match wits, while outside lurks Naples, a wily, violent, and passionate city whose influence is not easily shaken. Trick is a gripping, wry, brilliantly devised drama, “an extremely playful literary composition,” as Jhumpa Lahiri describes it in her introduction, about aging, family, art, and reconciling with one’s past.

Domenico Starnone is an Italian writer, screenwriter and journalist. He was born in Naples and lives in Rome. He is the author of thirteen works of fiction, including First Execution and Via Gemito, winner of Italy’s most prestigious literary prize, the Strega. Jhumpa Lahiri is the Pulitzer prize winning author of The Interpreter of Maladies, The Namesake, and Unaccustomed Earth, among other books. Her works originally written in Italian are In Other Words and The Clothing of Books. She is also an accomplished translator from the Italian, most recently of Starnone’s previous book, Ties, and teaches Creative Writing at the Lewis Center for the Arts. Alessandro Giammei is Lecturer in the Humanities Council and French & Italianas well as Fellow in the Society of Fellows at Princeton University.

The Princeton Migrations Series is a community-wide investigation of the theme of migration taking place throughout the region from February through May. Spearheaded by Princeton University Art Museum, the project includes exhibitions, readings, lectures, film screens and performances by more than 20 community partners and a host of campus organizations and departments. More info at princetonmigrations.org

Co-sponsored by Dorothea’s House & Princeton University’s Lewis Center for the Arts

TICKETS LIMITED TO TWO PER PERSON. Tickets are free but required and can be picked up in person starting February 15 at Labyrinth Books. NO RESERVATIONS WILL BE ACCEPTED!